Fran and Sandy's Home Threatened

by Keith, from emails from Fran

Update July 4, 8:30 AM:
.

Awoke to blue sky and no smoke. Decided to continue monitoring for a bit before making

the next move.

Update as of 11:30 PM July 3:

Thanks. Just received the evacuation notice (surprise!). Will monitor overnight and leave in the morning, or when we see flames whichever comes first. Will totally pack up before we hit the sack.

Fran

Update as of 5:30 July 3:


Fran reported, "Still here!" and sent the following pictures of a helicopter bombing the fire. (He said it was their version of the Oshkosh air show.)

Original Post:

When is your little spot of paradise not so great?

When a forest fire threatens to roar through it and take everything you've left behind!

And that's pretty much the situation right now with Fran and Sandy, who live near Newcastle, Wyoming.

Here's Fran's report as of late this morning:

The fire is at 20,000 acres , from 8000 yesterday and 3500 Sunday with zero containment. We could see flames last night on the near ridge (1/2 mile) and continue to have heavy smoke. The fire management has been upgraded to Federal control, the nearby town of Osage to the west has been evacuated, I’m told the National Guard is now here as well, and there was a water tender at our property entrance yesterday. We have not been ordered to evacuate, yet, but the fire is much closer than it was. I will send you a picture of the smoky ridge and if I can find one a “before” picture in case we have to take an “after” picture. The Rapid City and Casper papers are treating this as an after thought, concentrating on stuff closer to them and we are in no man’s land. The fire command has a community meeting tonight, so hopefully we will hear some good news.

Here's a view from their deck, during normal times:

View from Sandy and Fran's Deck

But here's the view these days, with the fire not far beyond the near ridge:

Smoke, Way Too Close!

They were advised yesterday that they may be evacuated so they've hooked up the fifth-wheel and also have another trailer they can load with treasures.

It looks like this will not be a stress-free Fourth of July for Fran and Sandy. We certainly hope that the fire is controlled soon and that they suffer no damage.